Soap Collection

I have an old hefty bar of soap that has been treasured and tucked away in my studio since 2006, the year I was invited to be part of a reminiscence project at Liverpool Life Museum. Through this project I had the privilege of working with a group of older people for several sessions, recording memories through creative workshops and conversation.

I found the stories fascinating, easily getting lost in the narratives. Towards the end of the project, a lovely lady gifted me a bar of Newsheaf soap still in its original waxy green and red packaging along with a letter.

To Recipient:

This piece of soap, among many
others was presented to myself and
all office staff of the then African
Oil Mills, owned by Co-op Wholesale
Soc. in a Hamper of samples of
soaps, Powders etc, in 1947 for
our Xmas Gift, instead of our usual
“Bonus”. Why I kept these soaps I
don’t know, unless it was for a
piece of history, which is what you
keep unknowingly for a future
reference, like you are now doing.
The African Oil Mills was situated
the one side of Wapping Dock in
Liverpool, the offices in Flint Street.
Hope this Helps.
                           Regards,
                           E R

I went on a quest to find out a bit more about Newsheaf, discovering it was a green soap manufactured by the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) from 1900 – 1970. “The CWS opened the Irlam Soap works near Manchester in 1894…With Manchester Ship Canal and the Manchester-Liverpool Railway nearby, the soap works was perfectly situated for imports of all important oil applied in soap production… Household soaps, like Newsheaf, were used to wash clothes by hand and for general cleaning around the house.”(1)

Joining up some of the dots, it made sense CWS owned the African Oil Mills that provided the one or more necessary raw components to make the soap at the other end of the railway. At Christmas it would have been cost effective for CWS to give E. R. and her colleagues products the company manufactured.

Fast forward. Whilst contemplating this blog and the conundrum of what to write, I stared at the exterior of two vintage soap boxes collected several years ago on an outing to G & B Antiques in Lancaster. The Lux and Persil boxes still have the original contents inside.

I closely examined the representation of women and their fragmented parts wondering whether I should write about this?

I ditched that idea when I suddenly got side-tracked experiencing a flashback to my childhood and thought, there is one type of soap missing from my collection. It is so weird, not sure how wonderful. How I’d love to get my hands on Fuzzy Wuzzy Bath Soap.(2)

In the 1960s/70s the Aerosol Corporation of America produced a wide range of circus animal soaps for children i.e. blue poodle, bear, cat, monkey and a dog. They all grew ‘fur’ once out of the package. There was a tiny toy surprise in the middle of each one that would eventually be revealed after several washes. Some people thought the ‘fur’ was grown from live mould spores but actually it was a form of crystallization called efflorescence.(3) 

And on that note, I’ll leave you with the little ditty I remember from the advert.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.

Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.

Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t fuzzy

was he?

Thank you for reading.

Kate J

1https://nuneatonmuseum.wordpress.com/2020/04/18/scents-and-sensibility-hands-on-history-online/
2https://www.blazenfluff.com/fuzzy-wuzzy-bath-soap-i-grow-fur-1960s/10022
3https://beachpackagingdesign.com/boxvox/packaged-past-tense-fuzzy-wuzzy